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Health & Biotech
Tim Boreham’s Alive and Kicking is Stockhead’s new daily wrap covering the ASX’s morning movers and shakers in the biotech and healthcare sector, Monday through Thursday.
Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) has revealed encouraging results from early work on a potential drug to treat glioblastoma, the most common brain cancer that kills patients on average 15 months after diagnosis.
The company’s work is based on its Chroma technology platform, which focuses on generating promising anti-cancer drugs based on a ‘library’ of candidates.
In conjunction with UniSA’s Centre for Cancer Biology, two drug candidates were tested on a biobank of patient-derived tumour explant organoids (GBOs).
The GBOs are generated from tumours surgically removed from brain cancer patients, “thereby maintaining the three-dimensional architecture and complex macroenvironment composition of human brain tumours and providing a realistic environment for drug testing.”
The results showed that the two novel drugs – dubbed CRO-70 and CRO-71 – reduced the growth of glioblastoma explants by an average 75.94% and 75.87% respectively, compared with the untreated controls.
The ‘p’ – probability value was 0.0001, which means there was a very low chance of the results being a fluke.
Just as importantly, the results showed the drugs could cross the blood-brain-barrier, the protective membrane designed to keep foreign bodies – including drugs – out of the grey matter.
Noxopharm and UniSA will carry out further studies “over the coming months”.
The preclinical work was aided by a $100,000 grant from Tour de Cure, a cancer charity based on Australians pedalling – or walking – long distances to raise funds.
The company says the global glioblastoma market was worth around US$2.9 billion in 2022 and is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 8.8%.
Despite the availability of drugs the condition remains incurable, a fact not lost on the ASX-listed Chimeric Therapeutics and Telix Pharmaceuticals.
Among other things, Chimeric is tackling glioblastoma with its chlorotoxin based on the venom of a deathstalker scorpion (the venom is synthesised, so they don’t have to catch ’em).
Radiopharmacy giant Telix has completed a phase III study for its glioblastoma brain imaging tool, Pixclara and is due to lodge a marketing application to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
On the therapeutic side, Telix is enrolling two trials for both recurring glioblastoma and new patients.
Noxopharm shares this morning leaped 19% to 12 cents, taking its 12-month gain to more than 300%.
Also on the preclinical front, Percheron Therapeutics (ASX:PER) says mouse-model data for its lead autoimmune epilepsy program produced “very encouraging” data.
Percheron’s avicursen (ATL-1102) targets CD49d, a cell-surface receptor that influences the activity of white blood cells and has shown efficacy with other inflammatory conditions including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (the company’s lead program).
The mouse work showed a “statistically significant” reduction in median seizure frequency of 66%, relative to a saline control.
Autoimmune epilepsy results from abnormal activity of the immune system within the brain and accounts for 5-35% of new epilepsy cases.
Percheron shares were unchanged at 8.5 cents.
Eleven months after gaining marketing approval in the US, Cyclopharm (ASX:CYC) reports sales-to-date of $250,000 for its lung-imaging tool, Technegas.
The nod from the FDA followed years of trying, which is a tad odd because Technegas had been long approved in scores of other countries, including neighbouring Canada and has been administered 4.9 million times.
Technegas involves the patient breathing a radioactive, gas-like substance, which sounds unhealthy but in reality leads to better diagnosis of pulmonary embolisms.
The company reported overall first-half Technegas revenue of a flat $7.46 million, with the US investment resulting in a loss of $7.48 million compared with a $2.66 million deficit previously.
In June the company won three-year reimbursement from the public US health insurers, which is just as important as FDA approval itself.
Cyclopharm estimates a US$180 million US market for pulmonary embolism, rising to US$900 million with other target lung diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and long covid.
Cyclopharm shares rose 2.9% to $1.42
In other news, Echo IQ (ASX:EIQ) reports that its AI-based Heart Failure System has proved its mettle in two clinical studies.
Performed in collaboration with St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research and the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, the studies showed the tool detected 86% of heart failure cases, compared with 46% for current standard clinical practice.
Combining AI and clinical evaluation increased the diagnosis accuracy to 97% for high-risk individuals
Echo IQ shares surged 11% to 17 cents in response to this morning’s disclosure, with the trial results earlier aired at a European Society of Cardiology get-together as a so-called ‘late breaking’ presentation.
Health & Biotech
Health & Biotech
Health & Biotech
